Hot Spots and Headlines: A Mariner Mediterranean Joint Live Blog

[Travelcat2]

"Z" - so great to hear from you. First and most important question........ did you drink all of the wine or did you leave some for us?:D

 

Thank you for the tips about the hotel, tour and cab. Although we have upgraded to Club rooms before, since we don't arrive at the airport until 11:45 p.m., we may just put up with what they give us and do the chaos in the morning.

 

Sorry to ask my typical questions..... but, who is the G.M. and C.D.? My guess is that the G.M. is either Massimo or Davor..... hoping it is Davor because we haven't seen him in in too long. I read somewhere that Margaret was the C.D. She is from Oceania and is supposedly excellent. Any comments are welcome.

 

Have you had a chance to dine at Zaldy's or Dennis' table in CR? I know that Zaldy is on board but am not certain about Dennis.

 

If you don't have time to answer my inane questions, that's fine. So good to hear that you are having a great time. I think I may have to try a Hendricks and something (what is a good drink with gin for people that don't care for gin?)

 

One last question (for now). How is the weather? It is very hot (I melt easily).

 

Thanks much!

 

P.S. Rich, thank you for describing Photobucket. I do know how to use it but it seems to take forever. Wish I could just copy and paste...... someone is bound to invent a way to do that. See you next week!

[Mr Rumor]

Rachel, I was able to do a "pretend post" on CC from my iPad using a random image from My Photo Stream. Now whether I can accomplish this while at sea is another question. I may be curious enough to try. Ron/computerworks, any tips?

 

No, Shauna won't be cruising with us this time (she will, however, when we rejoin the Mariner next March for a Caribbean cruise). I thought of her when I read your comment about putting off your packing as long as possible for your kitty's sake. Shauna exclaims every time she sees the Regent logo on a brochure, so I knew she would get excited when she saw our suitcases laid out in our bedroom (she did). But she took it well when we told her "not this time, but next time." Her consolation prize is getting to stay with two respite care people she adores, and who adore her.

 

Rich

 

P.S. Jackie, it seems we each have key Mariner staffing on our minds. . . I've made a note on Zaldy and Dennis. We are keen on connecting early on with excellent servers/stations.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Mr Rumor

[Travelcat2]

Rich, I thought that Michael was the G.M. but was told by Peggy (xrvlcruiser) that he was on the Voyager when she was onboard last week and Margaret was C.D. Margaret may have left but Michael is on the Voyager until his vacation next month and then Franck will replace him.

 

Tonight we are extremely excited ... I think that this thread is the cause. Posters may be interested in flights. Using deviation, we are flying British Airways from Vancouver through Heathrow. We enjoy BA's Business Class seats despite the fact that they are a bit weird.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Travelcat2

[Bigdogwon]

Deviation request granted. SFO-AMS-IST new business. IST-MUC-SFO new business. Intercontinental for three night pre, extension to Capaddocia.

 

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[Bigdogwon]

Add, one more to the review. Bigdogwon.

 

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[Bigdogwon]

Btw, up sell today. Horizon Suite, or PH?

 

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[xrvlcruiser]

And Davor is on the Navigator . . . . along with Captain Stan and Jamie Logan.

 

Peggy

[thecleave]

-Hendricks gin is available in all the bars!!!

 

Z and TB

 

Best news EVER!! Now I'm really looking forward to my upcoming cruises on the Mariner.

[53flygirl]

Wondering if any of you have done this tour or will be doing it soon? I have been to Istanbul and stayed for several weeks - fell in LOVE with it too!

 

We are on Explorer next Oct '16 and traveling with several friends and family who have never been there. When I saw the tour it seemed to cover everything ( for most part) that I love about this city. So if anyone has or will be taking this tour it would be wonderful to get your feedback.

[Travelcat2]

Bigdogwon: Happy to hear that you will be part of the group posting from the ship. My DH may post as well (a first for him -- if he can find a "name" that isn't already taken:-)

 

Did you decide between the Horizon or PH suites? If I had that choice, I'd choose the Horizon Suite because of the location but would not want to be under La Veranda so I would check the suite number just to make sure.

 

Peggy: Thanks for the information about Davor. Hoping that "Z" (aka Roberto aka Zqueeze1) will let us know about officers and also the tour. We decided against the tour because we probably won't get to the hotel until at least 1:00 a.m. and would rather rest and then take a cab.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Travelcat2

[RachelG]

So sorry Shauna won't be joining us. But I understand wanting a no kids vacation.

 

Bigdogwon, glad to hear you will joining us. Still no upsell offers for us. And I would probably take one his time. Talked to my TA, and was told they could request one, but it probably wouldn't be a great deal if we ask for it. Oh, well, we are in our usual suite. It should have a plaque with my name on the door.

[Zqueeze1]

Ok folks. Here goes:

GM Nickie Sheila

Capt Theo Srdelic

F&B Donald Curbelo

CD Lorraine

 

Sorry for late response but I am having trouble with Internet.

Weather is AWESOME!! Hot but passable for a Florida boy with the most beautiful sunny days. I haven't seen a cloud in four days.

I have been drinking up the Rieslings and Clide Zinfandel wine along with the Hendricks.

Tour in IST: worth it if you haven't been here before. We went to Asian side for photo op, blue mosque, a rug store stop (yes we bought one), and the spice market. Interestingly, the rug store pumped us up with Turkish booze.

Note on visas: get them on line. I did not see any place in the airport selling them.

Prime 7: ate there first night and the lobster tails were way over cooked. Fenagled a reservation tonight and it was awesome. Had great Mediterranean Sea bass and half portion of king crab.

Call sign for jackie's DH: Mr. TC2.

Passengers: there seems to be an inordinate amount of cranky, (fill in the blank) putzes who act as if they own the joint. How about some common courtesy?

Z and TB

[Zqueeze1]

 

Last night's appetizers.

 

Rhodes, Greece. Awesome weather.

 

Z and TB

 

 

 

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[Bigdogwon]

We declined both offers, reluctantly for me.

 

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[Mr Rumor]

Thanks for the report, Z, and kudos on managing to post a couple of photos! Would love to know how you did it. If you have the chance could your run down the steps for us?

 

GM Nickie Sheils is a new hire. She joined Regent in July after 18 years with Princess, where she rose in the ranks from Junior Purser to GM (in 2014). Looking forward to meeting her.

 

We've not sailed with Captain Theo before. Lorraine was the CD on our last Regent cruise, on the Navigator (May, 2014). She is a favorite of ours.

 

Z, please continue to ply us with more reports as time allows, as you continue to ply yourself with your favorite wines and gin!

Edited September 11, 2015 by Mr Rumor

[RachelG]

Leave us just a smidge of the Cline Zin if possible!

[Travelcat2]

Z, so happy to read that you are drinking wines other than Cabernet - that leaves plenty for us ;) That spread of food is lovely -- did you order it through your butler, room service or ???. I may just have to show the picture to our butler so it can be duplicated.

 

We noticed passengers like you described on a couple of our cruises. What particularly disturbs me is when I see "entitled" passengers being rude to the staff. There was one instance on our last cruise that I felt I had to speak up and tell the person how rude he was being - and this is very unusual for me to do (except sometimes on CC).

 

So happy to learn that Regent has a new G.M. - and a woman is a great thing. They obviously will need a couple new G.M.'s when the Explorer starts sailing in only 10 months. We have sailed with Lorraine before and absolutely adore Donald.

 

 

P.S. The very last thing that my DH would want to be is Mr. TC2 :D I think he would rather be anonymous. If/when he posts while onboard, he wants me to review what he plans on posting to insure that it is "okay". Still, he won't sound like me - could be a lot more critical than I am (but obviously loves Regent).

[gnomie1]

 

No, Shauna won't be cruising with us this time.

 

 

Rich:

 

You hadn't mentioned Shauna and I was anxiously awaiting to see if a picture with a great smile on her face was going to appear. I am not sure if you remember, but I had mentioned on your posts from a previous cruise that Shauna had become our office "mascot" - we were knee deep in deadlines and long nights and every time I would share one of your posts with a picture of Shauna, it always brought a smile to our face!

 

Looking forward to your informative posts!

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

gnomie :)

[Mr Rumor]

Gnomie, I remember your post from my last Alaska cruise blog very well because I loved it! I promise that you'll get plenty of Shauna on my March 2016 Mariner Caribbean blog. Thank you so much for the good trip wishes, and glad to know you'll be following along.

 

Breaking news from Regent, via our TA: "Due to the situation in Lesbos, Regent Seven Seas Cruses has altered its itineraries that call on Mytilene. Seven Seas Mariner's scheduled call on Sept. 17 will be replaced with a day at sea. . . . We continue to closely monitor the situation and will make future itinerary adjustments should the need warrant."

 

While Mitilini's cancellation comes as absolutely no surprise, we had been hoping for the substitution of a different port, rather than a second sea day to start the cruise. I'm guessing that Regent didn't have enough time to make the arrangements. Regent has replaced the September 29 scheduled stop at Mitilini with Kavala, Greece. As we are booked on Mariner through October 5, we'll now have the opportunity to visit Kavala instead that day.

 

Rich

Edited September 11, 2015 by Mr Rumor

[Bigdogwon]

I think we all knew this was going to happen. Although we were hoping for a day in another port we are fine with a sea day.

 

We leave tomorrow for Istanbul, arriving early evening on Sunday. Monday up at 4:00am for our Cappadocia tour for fifteen hours! The Intercontinental has graciously allowed us to stay in the same room for our "Regent night"on Tuesday. So the sea days will allow some rest before the 6:00am Isreal tour .

 

Looking forward to meeting you all onboard!

 

Mr.Rumor, I see you live in NM? Bought our retirement home in Santa Fe last year.

[Travelcat2]

You scooped me by a few minutes on that one :D As you posted, this was completely expected. Glad to hear that a port will replace it on the second half of your cruise. The Mariner will probably be going quite slowly as it does not take two days to get from Istanbul to Haifa. We love sea days so it isn't a big deal to us.

[MikeD1000]

Yes - disappointing but hardly unexpected. But Regent have been unimaginative about Lesbos. They have known for some weeks that there was probably going to be a problem, and appear not to have bothered to plan for it. But we'd rather spend two days at sea with Regent than with many other cruise lines.

[Mr Rumor]

Jackie, the old reporter in me still craves dem scoops! With a handful of us live-blogging (I'm including Bigdogwon and MikeD1000--weclome!), I'm sure we'll dig up--or stumble upon--a few more once onboard.

 

I used "We" prematurely when expressing disappointment about Regent not scheduling a replacement port for Mitilini on the 17th. Ginny is delighted to have a second sea day to begin the cruise. (Of course she has Kavala in her back pocket for the 29th.)

 

Well, time to run into town to do more last-minute trip-prep stuff. That town, Bigdogwon, is Santa Fe, our home since the late '80s. Look forward to comparing Land of Enchantment notes with you.

 

And, by the way, iamheisenberg, another New Mexico resident, thanks for your earlier post. With at least five of us live-blogging, you'll have to update your clever le blog a trois title for our blog, however!

 

Rich

Edited September 11, 2015 by Mr Rumor

[RachelG]

Very disappointed that they did not find an alternative port. They have known about this at least for 2 weeks. We would have really liked Kavala, Lemnos, or Patmos.

 

I like seadays sometimes, but not 2 in a row. We were planning on staying on the ship in Port Said, but now I think I am going to try to get an excursion there as George will be restless with too many sea days. I am being grouchy.

[Travelcat2]

I understand your disappointment. Even though we are fine with two sea days in a row, we also have nothing planned in Port Said (except a waitlisted 2 hour carriage ride that we tried to book just to get us off of the ship). The rest of the excursions are very long.

 

Also, if I remember correctly, the excursions in Haifa are all or mostly on the second day rather than the first since everything will be closed on Saturday (the day we arrive). Hoping that some stores will be open near the port so we can walk around (although we could walk around with everything closed I suppose). There are bound to be some places that are either Christian or Muslim owned that will be open. Guess we'll learn more when we get onboard since we can no longer view the excursions under "Our Account/Bookings".

 

What do you think about a small Meet and Greet on the 1st or 2nd sea day?

 

P.S. Doing a little research -- this is open on the day we arrive. http://www.ganbahai.org.il/en/haifa/

Edited September 11, 2015 by Travelcat2